Although there was talk in a local newspaper in the 1930s that the town of Scunthorpe should have a parliamentary constituency named after it, it was only after the boundary reviews implemented in 1997 that a constituency of this name was created. Previous incarnations of a constituency containing the steel town and small towns and villages around it had been called (going backwards in time) Glanford and Scunthorpe, Brigg and Scunthorpe, and Brigg.

Results to date indicate that the constituency has changed since creation from a safe seat for the Labour Party created at the incoming election for Prime Minister Tony Blair to somewhat of a marginal majority area for the party.

In statistics

The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of a local government district with: a working population whose income is below the national average and slightly higher than average reliance upon social housing.[2] At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 5.7% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, compared to the regional average of 4.7%.[3] The borough contributing to the seat had a middling 20.7% of its population without a car, 26.2% of the population without qualifications and 19.5% with level 4 qualifications or above. In terms of tenure 69.5% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census across the district.[4]